Friday, October 30, 2009

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, want to inform our residents that Swine Flu or H1N1 vaccines are available for those in the high-risk groups, i.e., in close contact with young people, at the following sites set up by the City: Kennedy King College, 6301 S. Halsted; Olive Harvey College, 10001 S. Woodlawn; Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S. Pulaski. Hours of operation are 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Saturdays. No appointments are necessary, and all vaccinations will be delivered free of charge, on a first come/first served basis. People who are allergic to eggs should not receive the vaccination. In addition to doctors’ offices and public health vaccination sites, H1N1 vaccine is expected to be available at retail pharmacies in the weeks ahead----giving Chicagoans ample opportunities to get vaccinated. College students in the city are advised to check in with their campus health service to see if and when H1N1 vaccinations will be offered.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, wish to inform all of our residents and members that the new venue for all of our monthly meetings, beginning with the November 9, 2009 Meeting will be the Northern Trust Bank Building, 2ND Floor, 78Th and State Street, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. That same goes for meetings on December 14, 2009 and January 11, 2010, as well.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, seek the cooperation, coordination, and company of all of the Block Club Presidents to work and discuss the need for private ownership and rehabilitation of the housing stock in the Chatham and Park Manor neighborhoods to reduce the probability of flippers who do not have our values of living in our community. Block Club Presidents, hold meetings on your block with your neighbors to seek their input and participation to buy, hold, and build the vacant housing stock and revitalize our Chatham/Avalon Park/Park Manor area for the betterment of us all. Investment clubs are being organized to deal with the issues of vacant housing.

David Vaughn knows the adulation of NBA crowds. He also knows the humbling task of maneuvering his 6-foot-9 frame into his Chevy Impala to sleep.

Less than a decade after the end of a four-season NBA career, the former power forward spent six months on the streets of Orlando, Fla., having run through the $2.2 million he earned in the league. These days, the 36-year-old Vaughn is looking for a job in Orlando, where he spent two seasons playing for the Magic.

His story, he says, is one of a young man with sudden riches, manic spending habits and little advice from those who should have given him direction. It's also one of a man whose friends are coming to his aid this weekend.

Drafted by the Magic in 1995 as the 25th pick out of Memphis, he bought a Yukon, a Corvette, a Mercedes Benz, a Range Rover, a Lexus and another Yukon.

He purchased a $250,000 house in Orlando, which he had two loans on; paid a note on his grandfather's house near Nashville; bought a $212,000 home in Nashville; and invested in a construction deal that went sour.

"The money just exhausted itself," Vaughn said.

His financial advisers, he said, "never stepped in and never made anything last a lifetime; I was left to make my own decisions."

These days, there's a mandatory NBA rookie transition program designed to head off such problems.

After his release from the NBA in 1999, he played briefly in Europe, then ended up back in Orlando with little money and working a series of blue-collar jobs: a FedEx package handler, and warehouse work at a supermarket and then a furniture store.

Before long, his marriage deteriorated and last year he was living out of his 2000 Impala on the streets of Orlando. He took showers at the Salvation Army where he got free meals. He'd go to a fitness center to get a shower and do stretching exercises so he wouldn't feel so cramped in his car.

"It was a very lonely situation," he recalled.

Vaughn recently reconciled with his wife and rejoined her and their two sons, aged 11 and 8.

"Basically I knelt down and said a long prayer," he recalled. "Later I read all of the New Testament, and it gave me strength."

Said wife Brandie: "Even though we may not have material things, we have the love of God which is more priceless than that."

But he's still "looking for work," just like millions of Americans. He was laid off over the summer by a furniture store that employed him as a warehouse worker and delivery man.

Friends and family in Nashville, where he grew up, will have a fundraiser for Vaughn on Saturday.

"He's made mistakes that we all do as human beings," said Earl Jordan, a community activist who arranged the event after being touched by Vaughn's plight. Jordan is president of Partners in the Struggle, a nonprofit that advocates against gun violence and helps families of murder victims.

Vaughn's life has revived memories of another Nashville pro athlete, Joe Gilliam Jr., who won two Super Bowl rings as quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers but ended up drug addicted and living in a cardboard box under a bridge for two years. He died in 2000.

Vaughn, grateful for the help, blames most of his woes on himself.

"I bought houses that were too big and too many luxurious cars," he said. "I wish I'd have lived more simply because I'd be better off. I lived like there was no tomorrow.

"I appreciate people stepping forward. It'll help me put some of my life back together."

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, think that a way to rid the neighborhood of all the vacant storefronts along 75Th Street and 79Th Street would be pop-up art galleries where artists at a low fee can showcase their artwork.

The Black community in the Chicagoland area is impoding. With the crime, drugs, children having children. With the recent murders of Wayne and Ruby McClendon, Derrion Albert at Fenger, and the string of murders in Chatham over the past five years. People are moving out and out of state.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

It's true! Young, white, and homeless are coming here to Chatham. And you're going to see a lot more of it with the economic downturn deepening and widening as GenXers are priced out of housing in the white community and the wholesale loss of jobs on the grand scale as companies shed their youngest segment of their workforces.

Please join us for our Annual St. Mark United Methodist Church, 8441 S. St. Lawrence Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60619, phone: 773-846-2992; for Fall Family Fun Night, Friday, October 30, 2009 6:30-9:00 p.m. Free admission. Come out for games, prizes, Food and fellowship for the whole family! Costumes are not required. If you do choose to wear one, please no witches, devils, or characters from horror movies, etc. This is a wholesome God-honoring, family event that is an alternative to traditional Halloween activities.

Microsoft Corporation Awards SeniorNetSoftware Grant Valued at $1,458,820 Greetings SeniorNet Volunteers and Members!Though the world is in an economic crisis and several corporations are ceasing contributions and grants to nonprofit organizations, we have an exceptional announcement to make, that proves the continued value and relevance of SeniorNet's mission and validates the efforts and perisistence of SeniorNet's Staff and Board of Directors.Seniornet Headquarters is extremely pleased to announce that Microsoft Corporation has awarded SeniorNet a major grant in operating systems and software. Our long-standing partnership and an extremely good relationship with Microsoft Corporation have paid off.As part of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential - Community Technology Skills program focused on imroving IT skills for underserved individuals and communities through community technology centers, Microsoft is generously donating copies of Microsoft Vista Business and Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 for every SeniorNet Learning Center in good standing.Below is an excerpt from the grant award letter:"Microsoft and its employees have long recognized the importance of being engaged in supporting communities around the world. Through our Unlimited Potential commitment to bring technology to the next 5 billion people, Microsoft seeks to reach the first billlion people by 2015. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential - Community Technology Skills program focuses on imporving IT skills for underserved individuals and communities through community technology centers or telecenters. By offering grants of cash, software, and curriculum we can partner to create social and economic opportunities that can change peoples' lives and transform communities."SeniorNet is grateful to Microsoft Corporation for this very generous grant. This is a fantastic way to kick off 2009 and we look forward to sharing many more exciting announcements!Jodi Lyons Leslie M. SmithSeniorNet Executive Director SeniorNet Board Chairman

Three members of the Gangster Disciples gang were arrested in Chicago after they were spotted riding in stolen luxury cars, according to the Chicago police. How did police catch them? The Lexus vehicles, which were stolen from the McGrath Lexus of Chicago dealership over the weekend, still had their highly recognizable “loaner” license plates on them. All told, 11 cars, which were valued at $350,000, were stolen from the McGrath dealership; eight vehicles have been recovered by Chicago police. Police believe this heist is connected to the theft of six vehicles from Imperial Motors Jaguar in Lake Bluff, Ill., last Saturday. Six Jaguars and a Land Rover SUV — a total value of $446,000 — disappeared that day. The thieves’ modus operandi was similar: In both cases they pried open the dealerships’ garage doors. At the McGrath dealership, the thieves stole a small safe filled with car keys. They returned later and brazenly drove off with the vehicles. Clearly, subtlety wasn’t their forte. In Lake Bluff, the thieves had an easier time of it — the dealership had left the keys in the vehicles. Police are reviewing the surveillance video from each dealership. Gregory Lee, 32, was stopped in the 8000 block of South Harvard and arrested on a felony charge of possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Isaac Lampley and Kevin Foster, both 31, were stopped near 80th and Halsted and arrested on misdemeanor charges. Felony charges were pending. Again, the thugs among us!

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, had the privilege to witness the ribbon-cutting of the grand re-opening of Renaissance Row on 75Th Street. Alderwoman Freddremma M. Lyle, Illinois State Representative Andre Thapedi, Connie Howard, Alisha Spears, Jeanette Foreman, attorney at law, Ron Carter from Black Wall Street and Keith Tate, President of CAPCC and Tom LaPorte from the City of Chicago Department of Water Management and Water and Sewer Department personnel that worked on the project and community residents were in attendance for the event.

What are the causes of the current crime wave affecting our Chatham neighborhood and the Chicagoland black community at large. Is it simply people who are uneducated and illiterate that are behind the crime? Are the gangs behind the crime, with members with long rap sheets? Are broken homes, bad schools and bad parenting, the media in the form of MTV and BET at the core of the onion layers? For Chatham it began with the double homicide of two drug dealers at the Burger King at 79Th & Vernon in the summer of 1997, with the murders of Darryl Dentley, John Montgomery, and Jamez Nunley at 78th & Vernon on July 11, 2005, with the mass murder of 5 residents at 7607 South Rhodes, gangland-style, two summers ago, and most recently with the shooting death and maiming of two teenagers in front of the Whitney Young Branch of the Chicago Public Library at 7901 S. King Dr. this past summer, setting the stage for the installation of police surveillance cameras over a 3-block radius near Chatham's center. Are Section 8, former CHA residents and ex-offenders at fault here? Should CLTV hold a television town meeting to discuss this social emergency? Feel free to interact and leave your comments on the comment line and throughout this blog.

So what is with the thug element--antisocial, anti-intellectual, unproductive--the thug mentality and the rampant thug behavior that goes with them, and what to effectively deal and do about them. Leave your comments on the comment line.

McClendon son: 'Thug mentality killed my parents'

A member of the McClendon family is blaming the "thug mentality" in the black community for the slaying of his parents and said black leaders have "to wake up" to change it and "come to grips that our pathologies run deep."

Theodore McClendon early yesterday morning posted a 3-minute videoclip entitled "AddressingThug-Life" on the Facebook social networking site in which he also said that "this kind of intimidation has to stop."

McClendon and his brother Garrard, a CLTV host, are two of three sons of Milton and Ruby McClendon of Hammond, Ind., an African-American couple whose bodies were found in a south suburban Cook County forest preserve Monday afternoon. Their missing green Cadillac was found abandoned on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago early Wednesday morning.

Early yesterday afternoon, a source close to the family said funeral arrangements would be completed yesterday afternoon.

In addition, the source said, 10 FBI agents have joined the investigation.

In the moody and darkly lighted video, Theodore McClendon said "the thug mentality is what killed my parents." He said the people who killed them saw the couple's classic American car, the kind "that thugs want so they can really soup it up." So they just decided to take it, he said.

"My parents happened to be the unfortunate victim of their immaturity and their thugism, and quite frankly to their primitive nature," he said. "We got to change this. Unless we change this we are doomed to have an uncivilized society. We are doomed to live in a quagmire of primordial existence. Unless we change it.

"But we got to admit it. That's where black leaders have to wake up. Black leaders have to come to grips that our pathologies run deep.

"Despite the causes of black pathologies, we must understand they exist. We need to address them rather than to blame external forces, blame economics, blame the white man. Blame something that's not going to solve anything.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, would like to extend our heartiest condolences to the McClendon family with their loss at the hands of the thug element in Hammond and Calument City with the murders of Milton and Ruby McClendon, parents of CLTV host Garrard McClendon.

Do you think the National Guard should be called in to the Chatham neighborhood to rid the area of the thug element terrorizing residents with their crime wave? Leave your comments on the comment line.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Should the City of Chicago introduce GREEN garbage carts for compost collection, like they do in San Francisco, California, so that when processed waste from restaurants and home dinner tables could be used as fertilizer for urban gardens where the people of Chatham can grow their own food, especially fruits and vegetables, in an effort to combat obesity? Leave your comment at the comment line.

Do you think there should be an Off-Track-Betting parlor erected at the southwest corner of 79Th Street and State Street where the profits are used to allow for property tax relief for senior citizens in Chatham, provided they apply when they get their property tax bills biannually from the Cook County Treasurer's Office like they do in Crestwood? Leave your comment on the comment line.

Entire City12345678910111213141516171819202122232425see crime incidents near an address or within a community? Use Crime Incidents to search for specific incidents by address, community, ward, beat, district, school & park. compare & contrast crime counts within the City of Chicago? Use Crime Summary to see crime summarized by community, ward, beat, district and census tract. view Chicago registered sex offenders residing near a location? Use Sex Offenders to search for registered sex offenders by address, community, ward, beat, district, school & park. You can also search by name. view a summary of Community Concerns? Use Community Concerns to see concerns summarized by community, ward, beat, district and census tract. The Chicago Police Department developed CLEARMAP to provide residents of the City of Chicago with a tool to assist them in problem-solving and combating crime and disorder in their neighborhoods. It is based upon the CLEAR (Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting) system developed by the Department for use by its police officers.The CLEARMAP Crime Incidents web application enables you to search the Chicago Police Department's database of reported crime. You will be able to see maps, graphs, and tables of reported crime.You can search using an address, by community area, ward, police beat and district and around a school or park. You can also search by POD and a custom drawn polygon.The database contains 90 days of information which you can access in blocks of up to 14 days. Data is refreshed daily. However, the most recent information is back-dated 7 days from today's date. Brochure (.pdf) The CLEARMAP Crime Summary web application enables you to see choropleth maps and tables of reported crime summarized into 32 categories such as violent crime, property crime, robbery, burgulary and motor vehicle theft.The data is summarized by beat, district, ward, community area, and census tract.The database contains 1 year of information which you can access in blocks of 90, 180, 270 and 365 days. Data is refreshed daily.This tool is useful for comparing and contrasting various areas of the City of Chicago. Brochure (.pdf) The CLEARMAP Sex Offenders web application enables you to search the Chicago Police Department's database of registered sex offenders. The Chicago Police Department maintains a list of sex offenders residing in the City of Chicago who are required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act, 730 ILCS 150/2, et seq. The data is updated once per day.You can search using an address, by community area, ward, police beat and district and around a school or park. You can also search by a custom drawn polygon or a name.Brochure (.pdf) The CLEARMAP Community Concerns web application enables you to see choropleth maps and tables of reported community concerns summarized into categories such as gangs, narcotics, and prostitution.The data is summarized by beat, district, ward, community area, and census tract.The database contains 1 year of information which you can access in blocks of 90, 180, 270 and 365 days. Data is refreshed daily.This tool is useful for comparing and contrasting community concerns in various areas of the City of Chicago. Brochure (.pdf) The CLEARMAP Block Clubs web application enables you to see where block clubs are located throughout Chicago.Traditional block clubs are groups of people who have homes and families on any given block in the city and have organized to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. People who form block clubs are concerned and care about their communities and share information, identify concerns and act collectively to address those concerns. A block club can provide a strong deterrent to gangs, guns and drugs.Brochure (.pdf) -->

After his July 10 death, William Scott's body was kept in storage for three months so he could be laid to rest alongside his late wife, Lorraine, in scandal-scarred Burr Oak Cemetery once it reopened for business.But when cemetery workers tried to dig Scott's grave last week on the deeded burial plot he and Lorraine purchased in the 1950s, they unearthed an unpleasant surprise -- a casket and remains that weren't supposed to be there. Lorraine and William Scott had hoped to be buried next to each other at Burr Oak Cemetery.Now Mr. and Mrs. Scott must share their eternal resting place with a stranger lying between them.This latest embarrassment for Burr Oak took place just weeks after a judge authorized the resumption of burials at the Alsip cemetery that has been closed to the public since being declared a crime scene in early July.While the decrepit pine box and its unknown skeletal inhabitant appear to have no connection to the corpse dumping and grave reselling investigation that led to criminal charges against four former Burr Oak employees, it's certainly fresh evidence of the problems that incomplete record-keeping could continue to cause the cemetery as it tries to move forward.Put simply, it can't be sure who's buried where.Trudi Foushee, who manages the cemetery for owner Perpetua Holdings of Illinois, downplayed the latest incident and its portent for future operations. She said the discovery of the stray coffin had been explained in advance to Scott's family, which went ahead and authorized the burial to take place as scheduled last Thursday.But the Scotts' daughter, Karla, a Miami, Fla., businesswoman, suggested she had little choice after waiting three months to bury her father -- two months after the actual funeral."All of this I found out at the very last minute," she said Tuesday from her late parents' Chatham home. "I was already on my way here. I wasn't even given warning. It's a very awkward situation."Scott declined to discuss specifics of what happened with her father's burial plot, saying, "I really can't talk about that right now."Brian White, a police commander for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, offered information that may help explain her reticence.White, whose investigators were called to the scene after the remains were found, said Burr Oak officials outlined the circumstances to Scott and offered to proceed by burying her father at a discounted rate adjacent to the unknown grave -- one spot removed from her mother -- or dig up her mother's casket and move both parents to another spot in the cemetery.By law, the unidentified remains could not be moved.With a lousy choice like that, you can see why Scott just looked for closure.Foushee argued that the unidentified remains never would have been disturbed if not for the intervention of Roman Szabelski, a court-appointed consultant helping to oversee the cemetery's reopening.Szabelski, who runs Catholic Cemeteries for the Chicago Archdiocese and originally took over Burr Oak as receiver after the scandal broke, ordered William Scott's grave dug closer to his wife's than was originally marked by work crews, Foushee said. The backhoe then unearthed the unexpected coffin, she said.Sheriff's investigators said some bones and part of the coffin already had been dumped on a truck before the mistake was found. They were later returned.Szabelski wouldn't discuss the matter, but I'm having trouble following Foushee's logic that he's somehow to blame, when she says the records show there shouldn't have been a body there.Obviously, the Scotts bought their plots expecting to be buried side by side.From segregated cemeteries to Emmett Till's casket, the Burr Oak scandal has touched on so many uncomfortable truths of African-American history, and William Scott's grave debacle adds one more.Scott, it turns out, was a survivor of the Tulsa Massacre, also known as the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, when a white lynch mob destroyed that town's all-black Greenwood neighborhood, killing dozens if not hundreds of African Americans, the facts long in dispute. Scott, then 9, was left homeless.He later came to Chicago, met and married Lorraine, served as a military cook during WWII, and supported his family with a factory job at Western Electric, also finding time to work as a 6th Ward Democratic precinct captain. Scott was 96 when he died. Lorraine died in 2008. They deserved a better ending.You wonder how much more heartache this one cemetery can cause.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, wish to ask all of our viewers, residents, and occupants of Chatham to tell us your experience with Burr Oak Cemetery and if you have been affected by the graveyard scandal, tell us your story, email us at capccchi@gmail.com or leave your comment on the comment line.

Subject: BERASave the DateCelebration for the 75th Street-Renaissance RowRE-OPENING Event: A Ribbon Cutting Ceremony celebrating there-opening of the 75th Street-Renaissance Row business district. There will be a walking grand tour after the ribbon cutting to show our well established Business District.

Please come out and be a part of the ceremonyFor the new and improved 75th Street.

Attention Shoppers and Community Builders:This is a great opportunity for you to help rebuild and stabilize an outstanding business district on the southside of Chicago.We are asking you to re-direct some of your shopping dollars into the 75th Street Business District where you will find a wide variety of goods and services.

Please RSVP for the free Walking Business Tour.Contact: The Business Economic Revitalization Association @ 773-783-2636

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, held our Monthly Meeting for October, 2009 at the Chatham Fields Lutheran Church, 8050 S. St. Lawrence, in which we discussed taking back our neighborhood, block by block. Thank you Dorothy Che MenChu and Mrs.Haley block club presidents. Dr. Sandy Hickman discussed several topics including stress control, diabetes, cholesterol control, hypertension control, exercise and others. We are also looking forward to working with Dr. Wayne Watson, President, Chicago State University. The proposed Chicago Transit Authority fare increases, discussed at great length, will start Feb. 7 unless increases in public subsidies or major concessions by CTA unions develop in the next month or so. Under the proposed new budget, the regular bus fare would increase 25 cents, to $2.50. Express bus and all rail fares would jump to $3 from $2.25 now. Most unlimited-ride passes also are slated to get more expensive, including the 30-day pass, rising to $110 from $86. The free rides program offered to senior citizens will continue. Free rides were later expanded to include low-income disabled people, disabled military veterans and active military personnel in uniform. Transfers would remain 25 cents. But riders who use the CTA smart fare cards, the Chicago Card or the Chicago Card Plus, who now pay a discounted $2 bus fares, would pay the full $2.50 fare. Express bus service would no longer be available on nine routes, including: X3 King Drive, X4 Cottage Grove, and riders could expect average waiting times to at least double. For more information, please call the CAPCC Office at 1-866-272-1215 or visit the CAPCC Blog at chathamavalonparkcommunitycouncil.blogspot.com. You may also visit our website at http://www.capcc.org/.

Friday, October 9, 2009

We, at the Chatham Avalon Community Council, wish to inform our members and residents that the Monthly Meeting will Monday, October 12, 2009 at Chatham Fields Lutheran Church, 8050 S. St. Lawrence, at 6:30 P.M. Please Notice new location.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, are more than gratified to learn this morning to all our great surprise to the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama! We appreciate his decision to donate the entire cash prize of $1.8 million to charities of various causes.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, were in attendance at the October, 2009 Monthly Meeting held at St. Dorothy's Church, 450 East 78Th Street, last night, in which several community topics dealing with the impending winter season in Chicago and the tales of trials and tribulations with Peoples Energy were detailed. A representative urged all residents to now take advantage of CEDA programs including weatherization and LIHEAP by calling 1-800-571-2332 ASAP! The property known as 7801 South Cottage Grove was discussed with the interested party of the Nation of Islam with Ron Garner as architech seeking a needed $3.5 million in rehab funding to rejuvenate the building. The matter of the new library construction for the Whitney Young branch at 7901 South King Drive was raised including the issue of toxic contamination of part of the chosen parcel, forcing the design to be a parking lot with a 2-story structure. Finally, various candidates for judicial posts of the several sub-circuits and seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago, were presented with their appeals to the residents for support and signature petitions to be placed on the ballot for the upcoming Democratic primary in February, 2010.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Chicago to pay airline after it agreed to move to Willis Tower, employ at least 2,500 downtown for 10 years or moreA Chicago City Council committee on Monday authorized $35.8 million in incentives to help United Airlines move its operations center from the northwest suburbs to Willis Tower downtown.

United, in turn, must employee at least 2,500 people at the city's tallest building for the next 10 years, said William Eager, a deputy commissioner in the city's Community Development Department.

"United made it clear they were looking for a new headquarters," he said. "We wanted the city to be as competitive as possible."

To that end, the city offered far more to United than the $25 million in incentives first revealed in early August.

United also was looking at relocating its operations center to Rolling Meadows as it searched for a more cost-effective solution to upgrading its command center in Elk Grove Township near O'Hare International Airport. When United announced in August that it had chosen Willis Tower, formerly the landmark Sears Tower, UAL Corp. CEO Glenn Tilton said the city's incentives were a key to the decision.

Under the deal approved by the Finance Committee, Chicago-based United would receive $25.8 million in special taxing district funds over a 10-year period. Of that, $1.5 million would be for job training. The remaining $24.3 million would be used to rehabilitate more than 400,000 square feet of space on eight or nine floors of Willis Tower, Eager said.

In addition, the city has agreed to give United $10 million -- in five annual $2 million payments starting in 2012 -- as an incentive to make the move.

Even if all those payments are made in the next 10 years, the city will net $44.5 million in revenue during that period because of the move, Eager said. If United stays for 15 years, the city will net $101.4 million, he said.

The move is a cost savings for United, which needed a new operations center because for the first time the company is bringing together employees responsible for everything from tracking its planes to minding stranded passengers.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, think the City of Chicago Bureau of Signs and Markings, Department of Transportation should install all-new bike racks, restore bike paths, and create dedicated painted bike lanes on 79Th Street between State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue and on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive between 75Th Street and 87Th Street in both directions to accommodate the ever increasing bike and motorcycle traffic the Chatham community is experiencing in the summertime!

What do you think the proper response should be of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to the Chicago Public School crime spree, including the recent beating death of a Fenger High School honor student? Leave your comments on the comment line.

Do you think the recent criticism of President Barack Obama is merited due to the debate on health care legislation, the surge in troop levels in the ongoing war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the huge loss of Chicago's failed bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games? Leave your comments on the comment line.

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, want to remind everyone that we will accept nothing less: a Bucktown Wicker Park replica for the newly constructed Whitney Young Library at 7901 South King Drive! So let's make sure it comes to be!

Hours at branches in the Chicago Public Library system will be reduced Monday through Thursday under a plan to take effect in January that is still being worked out, a spokeswoman confirmed Monday.There would be no changes at the Harold Washington Library, as well as the city's two regional libraries, Sulzer on the North Side and Woodson on the South Side. The new hours would take effect at the beginning of January. Hours already vary at the 76 local branches, but some are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Under the plan, the earliest opening time would be 10 a.m., and the latest closing time would be 8 p.m.The hours of libraries serving a particular area would be staggered, so one might open at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., while the other would open at noon and close at 8 p.m., she said.The changes are necessary because the libraries have had a hiring freeze for years that has eroded staffing levels. That was compounded earlier this year when the system laid off 120 of 279 pages, who put books back on shelves, because their union would not agree to concessions sought by Mayor Richard Daley amid the ongoing budget crunch. The staff reductions over time also resulted in uneven service at the branches, in terms of both hours open and staff working at them, she added. Under the new system, services would be more even across the system. How this will affect the Whitney Young Branch, already scheduled for demolition for a newly-constructed branch anyway, has not yet been determined by the Chicago Public Library's Facilities Committee, not even an interim alternative site.

Do you think that Chatham should allow for the development, say of the vacant lot property at the southwest corner of 79Th & State Streets, a new multi-story 5-star luxury hotel, to draw well-heeled tourist and foreign visitors to our community and our city for economic development? Leave your comments on the comment line.

Open Letter to Mayor Richard M. Daley: The next time you want to put in a bid for the Summer Olympic Games for Chicago (2020 is absolutely out of the question) for 2024 or 2028, have built many luxury residences like the 90-story Trump Tower where the former site of the Sun-Times was--many IOC members, themselves the world's rich and famous are former sportsmen (not the highly paid professional athletes in the United States since the beginning of the big-money era of 1985 onward), many of them are billionaires who really don't need a bonus salary contract, who simply won't live in Chicago with all its harsh and brutal winters if there are no real luxurious places for them to live--like the jet-set in New York City. You got to have a place where Mick Jagger, Prince Albert of Monaco, and the high-end polo players of Argentina, would buy a multi-million dollar condo apartment, for example. And real places for them to seriously party year-round. Listen to Donald Trump, SERIOUSLY!

We, at the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, inform our residents of some terms as a rule of thumb when referring to Chatham:

Chatham enclave: The neighborhood between State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue and 75Th to 87Th Streets (used often when referring to the housing stock of homes and apartments);Chatham corridor: The section of the Dan Ryan Expressway, I-94, from 75Th Street to 87Th Street;Chatham perimeter: The commercial, retail and business perimeter around Chatham enclave that includes Chatham Village Mall, West Chatham Plaza, Chatham Ridge Plaza and Chatham Market;Chatham proper: The people and housing stock inside Chatham enclave.

Neighbors come out in Sub Area 1 to walk neighborhood ten people walk on Wabash and twenty people come out Michigan and Indiana. Thanks Dorothy Che MenChu and Mrs.Haley block club presidents. WE are working to take our neighborhood back. Block by Block.